In special care environments and institutional settings, there is sometimes a need for furniture and room designs, including ligature-resistant door trim designs, that eliminate opportunities for a person to harm themselves. For example, if a door includes an inside handle, the handle should not provide an attachment point for a ligature that would enable a person to hang or strangle themselves.
Industry representatives have begun drafting a standard for hardware ligature attachment resistance. Under one proposal, a ligature-resistant device would be required to withstand a test wire comprising a nylon cord, plastic coated fabric, or plastic coated metal core with a diameter of 20 thousandths of an inch and a breaking strength of at least 4.5 foot-pounds. The test wire would be tied with a slip knot around the device as closely to the mounting fixture (e.g., an escutcheon) as possible, and a load of 1.1 foot-pounds would be applied sequentially in five directions, four at right angles in a direction parallel with the mounting fixture, and one perpendicular and away from the mounting fixture. To qualify as a ligature-resistant device, the test wire should slip off the device under each of those conditions.